Protectors of Sodamonia
by Queen of the Dormice
Summary: Chaos has begun to let loose in the magical lands of Sodamonia as an evil group known as the Panther Organization rises to power. Only a sorceress, two shapeshifters, and a rogue warrior can discover their ultimate goal and stop them in the quest of a lifetime. Rated T for language. Nanowrimo story.
1. Chapter 1: The Vision

**A/N**

**Me:Hi y'all! Queen of the Dormice here! I'm so pumped for my first story, especially since this is the one I'm working on for Nanowrimo. I hope to achieve my 50,000+ words with this as well as maybe even get it published. And as I've seen kidnapping characters is popular, I've decided to keep one of my own characters hostage. Everyone, meet Scar!**

**Scar: Where the hell am I?! 0.0"**

**Me: In my basement, but that's besides the point. Go on. Say hi to everyone. :3**

**Scar: What the hell?! Say hi to who?! O.o**

**Me: The readers, silly. X3**

**Scar: Readers? 0.0?**

**Me: I guess I have some explaining to do... XP**

**WARNING: I own everything in this! It's all original, but feel free to use any of the characters, settings, or situations for your own musings. :3**

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_Chapter 1: The Vision_

"Scarletta!" It was a beautiful day out on the Hangarti Plains. Bronze hued grasses covered the entire landscape, dotted with the occasional patch of trees. Several red deer grazed calmly as the sun rose lazily from its nighttime slumber, dawning in a new day. The absolute silence was broken again by the crack of a twig, and one of the does lightly raised her head to see what was the cause of all the ruckus. "Scarletta!" an old woman's voice called out of the distance for a second ear-ringing time.

The source of the wood-snapping noise stood up straight from pulling out tubers. It was a girl, her long hair as dark as the pitch of night and her skin a lovely olive complexion. "Coming, Baba!" Scar yelled cheerfully back to the elderly woman. She picked up her straw basket filled with herbs and vegetables and began running back towards her home village of Monataro.

Lying in-between the great cities of Simbasa and Lumiar, Monataro was a tiny town. Its population easily numbered just under one-hundred. Long ago it had been a major trading hub of the mystical continent of Sodamonia before Simbasa had sprouted in existence. Now, all that remained of its greatness was the merchant's post which now served simply as the town square.

Scar ran through the dirt streets, occasionally waving good morning to other villagers just leaving their huts forged of mud for the long day in the wheat fields. Before going towards her teacher's hut, the girl made a brief detour to the town's stables. "Good morning, Genevieve," Scar greeted her mazelle, a horned creature similar to an antelope. Genevieve gave a yippy whinny and nuzzled her rider's hand lovingly before Scar continued her run.

"Scar! Scar!" a little boy yelled to her in an excited fashion.

She pulled over and grinned happily at her tiny friend. "Hey, Martwen." Scar reached out and patted him on the head.

"Anything in there for me?" he asked curiously while peering into her basket.

"Not today, pal. It's for Baba," Scar announced, her long, black mane shifting against her back and over her shoulders.

"How is she doing?" Martwen questioned, making sure he enunciated every word. Though he was only five he often acted far beyond his years, yet his youthfulness was still given away every time he stumbled over words like a child of his age normally would.

"She's doing pretty well," Scar responded, seeming in a hurry. "But I really have to go. Bye, Martwen!" She hurried off with her bundle towards Baba's home.

"By the way, Scar," Martwen shouted to her as she ran, "Happy birfday!"His little arm gave a quick wave to her retreating form before spotting an orange cat on a windowsill and chasing after it in delight.

She finally slowed down in front of what she knew to be the sorceress' hut. The earthen house was like any other, but a small amulet with the shape of a butterfly was embedded above the thatch door. Scar paused in front of the doorway to brush the dust off of her deep red tunic; she also took a few seconds of time to smooth out a material, and then moved to make her way inside.

"Baba! I'm back!" she called out while pushing the door to the hut closed with a lightly resounded thud. Scar glanced around the dark, one-room hut. The earthen walls were covered with shelves which contained books, tools, and various bottles of elixirs and herbs that one who worked with sorcery would need. In the center of the room, an old woman sat on a hand-woven rug brushing out her long and grey hair. As soon as she noticed the door had opened she stood up to place the brush on one of the shelves.

"Happy birthday, Scar," Baba said with a warm-hearted smile. It was those kinds of smiles from Baba that made Scar's insides warm and fuzzy. It held true meaning to her just as it held true to the one wishing her a 'happy birthday." It was moments like this one that resonated with her the most.

"Thank you, Baba," she bowed respectfully to her teacher.

"If you would please, put the basket over there," the old woman requested kindly as she pointed to a spot in the corner of the hut, "It is time for your lessons." Scar did as she was told and sat down cross-legged in front of Baba.

"Scar," Baba continued in a firm tone, "you are sixteen years old and have been training under me for the last… How many years again?" The elderly woman fumbled with words until Scar sheepishly held up seven fingers. "Ah, right. Seven years. Anyways, you've mastered all four natural elements: Fire." Baba procured a small flame in her palm. "Water." The fire extinguished to be replaced by a small pool of cool water that wavered in her hand. "Earth." Baba's hand nearly instantly dried as a pebble rose from the ground and landed softly in her hand as the water dripped away from her long fingers. "And wind." A strong breeze passed over her palm and sent the pebble flying into the wall of the hut with a soft thunk. Baba grinned with pride welling up inside her. "I believe you are old enough to finally learn the treasured art of sorcery; the ability to See the past, present, and future." Scar could not help but shiver in excitement; she had been waiting so long for this day to arrive. She could hardly believe her ears and even pondered pinching herself to make sure that she hadn't been dreaming.

It had been the duty of the village sorceress or sorcerer to relay to the people messages from the spirits for hundreds of years. Another responsibility, of course, was to help protect Monataro from enemies, whether they were human or natural. Both sorcerers and sorceresses were very great beings, yet only sorceresses could access and harness the powers of the magic world. It was these very teachings Scar had been studying for almost half of her life.

"I'm ready, teacher," Scar nearly whispered. Baba nodded and stood up to retrieve something. Scar watched, now completely enthralled, as the older sorceress put a wooden bowl in front of her and prudently filled it with a liquid that glowed all of the colors of the rainbow.

"This," Baba began, "is Eternity Water. It is your gateway from our world to the magic world. Understand?" Scar, though her big, brown eyes were wide with wonder at the way the eternity water sparkled, simply nodded. The student eagerly reached out to touch the liquid.

"Ah-ah!" Baba scolded and then slapped her hand away from the bowl. "Not yet!"

If it had been anyone else who had touched her that way, Scar would have gone into an outburst, but she had always kept her temper in-check with Baba since her very first day of training. Once, when the teacher had scolded her for toying with one of the more lethal potions, Scar had blown up at her with screams and threats. Baba almost dropped her as a student, but Scar came back the next day to apologize and solemnly swore to never again lose her cool in lessons. She had kept that promise well.

"Sorry, master," Scar blurted sheepishly whilst pulling her hand back.

Baba wore a stern look on her face. "Don't touch the water now. Without the right chants it could tear apart your very soul." Scar stared at the Eternity Water with amazement. "Your first direct connection to the magic world will be extremely sensitive."

"So my battle and healing powers haven't been magic?" the thoroughly confused pupil asked with a slight tilt to her head.

"Oh, they have. But every time you've used them you have been merely skimming the possible connection. This time you're going all in. This is your final test, Scar. If you can pass it, that is. It is most certain the spirits have chosen you as a rightful sorceress of Monataro. Unlike the others…" Baba thought back to her previous students, of which there had been four. All of them had perished trying to get into the magic world.

"Others?" Scar questioned, ever curious.

Baba shook her head. "It is nothing." Both of the sorceresses were silent as Baba considered telling her.

"This rite of passage is a dangerous one. Not all who have attempted have succeeded. Are you sure you want to do this? I would be more than happy to have you as an assistant for the rest of my days rather than my replacement. I could find another to train," the old woman offered. Of all her trainees, Scar had been the one she loved most. To lose her forever might have been too much for the elderly sorceress to take.

"Baba, I'm ready. I can do this," Scar told her teacher, her eyes glowing with confidence and determination.

Baba was about to press the issue, but decided to keep her mouth shut, leaving the loving words of dissuasion unsaid. "Alright, we shall begin," she spoke instead. "Let me get the tollberry seeds."

"Tollberry seeds? What for?" the younger sorceress in training asked. She knew those seeds were normally used to calm crying babies.

"My, my. You've always been the curious one, my dear. But today it's been nothing but questions from you," Baba teased her. Scar shrugged, more eager to learn the ancient art of Seeing than playing. Baba stopped smiling and pulled out the seeds that her student had collected that morning. "Your body needs to be in the most relaxed state possible, even more so than meditating. Otherwise your mortal soul could get in the way of the connection. Very bad things would happen. Here, swallow these." Baba dropped half a dozen seeds into Scar's waiting palm. Without a second thought, Scar put the tollberry seeds in her mouth. It took all of her willpower not to spit them out; the seeds had a very bitter flavor similar to the scent of a hollyhog spray. However, with a hard gulp the seeds went down easily enough.

"Now what?" Scar asked, still visibly disgusted by what she'd just consumed.

Baba sat down next to the young soon-to-be sorceress. "Now all we can do is wait. Wait for the seeds to take effect." The pupil nodded and settled herself deeper into the rug, its once-bright colors being the last thing she saw before falling into a trance of meditation.

Scar's mind cleared itself completely; she thought of nothing but whiteness. In the state state her mind had entered it was cold and empty, yet somehow a heat inside her prevented everything from frosting over. It was this state of mind that could relax the tides, bring rumbling volcanoes to a halt, turn a zephyr into a hurricane, or bring on the greatest earthquake the world had ever seen. This was a calling to the spirits. This was the greatest source of controlling all four elements. Scar remained like this for several hours, in an absolute peace so few could achieve.

"Scarletta, awaken. It's time," Baba placed a frail hand on Scar's shoulder, causing the teen's eyes to open. It was then she noticed how light-headed she felt. The seeds were working. Baba pulled a book out from one of the shelves and turned it to a bookmarked page.

"Read this," the teacher commanded gently while pointing to a small paragraph.

Scar read it aloud slowly and articulately.

"Spirits come to me.  
Fill me with your great knowledge,  
Knowledge of the past.  
Present.  
Future.  
From faraway places.  
From my neighbor's home.  
Spirits… tell me your secrets."

At the end of the last line the Eternity Water began to glow brightly in colors that left little to the imagination. Scar looked up at Baba in joy; she was doing it. She was going to See.

"Scar," Baba almost choked on emotion, as she knew the next part of the process could mean she was going to kill her pupil, "You need to dip your face in and open your eyes."

"Ok, master." Scar bent forward towards the bowl only for her teacher to hold her back for a moment.

"I love you, my dearest child," she nearly sobbed.

Scar was shocked; she had never seen Baba cry before, nor had she ever heard those words come from the old woman's lips. "I love you, too, Baba." She smiled.

With that, the elderly sorceress let go of Scar and allowed her to place her head in the Eternity Water. "Please spirits," Baba whispered, "Let her be the one."

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As soon as Scar had dipped her face into the Eternity Water, a tremendous wave of pain overtook her body. She tried to scream, but no noise escaped her mouth. Using all of her willpower she opened her eyes. Colors soared by her in endless spectrums. All of the sounds of Sodamonia, from a mother hollyhog grunting to her babies in Trickle Forest to a merchant yelling out advertisements for his crops in the streets of Simbasa, blended together into a symphony of utter chaos. The pain ebbed throughout her, growing stronger and stronger until she thought she wouldn't be able to take it anymore.

Scar could sense her soul being torn away from her body. The feeling felt cold and hot yet soft and rough. Her soul tried hard to stay stitched onto her physical form, but she was losing her grip until she was still attached by a single thread. Her body began to unravel as she started flying faster and faster past the colors with the lone string connected to her wrist.

Suddenly, it all stopped. The pain was gone. The colors were gone. Scar found herself sitting on a grassy hilltop speckled with snowy white daisies. She touched the soft grass in wonder; she had heard of green vegetation like this before, yet she had never seen it in person. Scar felt a slight tug on her arm to find that the thread was still connected to her wrist.

"You might not want to do that. You could be lost here forever if you break it," a gentle, male voice spoke from behind her. Scar whipped around to see who was speaking to her. A man stood behind her, his brown beard almost touching his chest and his crown, which looked like a silvery halo of vines, gleaming in his hair. The ornate, golden robes he wore glowed in the sunlight, and the wooden scepter he held firmly in his hands seemed ancient.

"Who are you?" Scar commanded.

"Greetings," he bowed down to her, "Welcome to the magic world, Scarletta. I am Raoul, king of the spirits." He introduced as he stood upright again. "As I was saying, that's your only connection back to the mortal world. Without it you could be trapped here for eternity."

Scar immediately went on the defensive, as she had heard from Baba the many folktales of evil spirits disguising themselves as good to steal the souls of mortals. "How do you know my n-" She stopped speaking as she realized the fireballs she had been trying to summon to her palms weren't appearing. "What the hell?!" she freaked out. Without her sorcery, she was powerless.

"It's no use in the magic world," Raoul smiled kindly, "None of your abilities will work here."

Scar let out a huff. "Now that we've pointed out the obvious, what is it that you want to show me?"

"Please, come with me. All of your questions will be answered." The man turned away from her and began walking. She paused, but eventually Scar followed him careful to keep some distance between her and the man. A flash of light enveloped the two as they kept a steady gait. When the bright light went away, Scar found herself and Raoul surrounded by a scene more repulsive, more hateful than she had ever imagined possible.

Armored, dead bodies were strewn about on plains similar to the ones Scar had back home. The sky burned a hazy red, and the only sound to be heard was a weak wind blowing. The stench of blood overpowered Scar's senses.

"Holy shit!" Scar refrained from covering her nose, "Where are we?"

Raoul bowed his head in sorrow. "These are the Hangarti Plains hundreds of years ago."

"No wonder they look familiar," she said softly.

"Back in the time of lords," the spirit began, "King Leio was one of the greatest rulers Sodamonia had ever seen. Though, his two sons were in constant conflict; one wished for the kingdom to progress into new technologies, and the other wanted to remain close to the natural world. Once their father had passed, it was found that he had loved both of his sons so dearly he made them both the heirs to the throne. Yet it wasn't long before the newly-crowned kings were fighting again over ideologies, and so began the Dark War between them that raged for decades. This is one of the battlegrounds of that terrible war."

Scar spotted a smaller corpse in the distance and ran ahead to examine it. It was the mangled body of a little boy, appearing to have been no more than a few years old. She almost fell to her knees in shock.

"He was just a kid. He was innocent. Why'd he have to die?" Scar's face was twisted with anger as she felt a familiar feeling akin to unbridled hatred toward whoever would do something as irresponsible as to let innocents, much less a child, lose his life in the midst of a war that he had nothing to do with. Words could not explain it. It was something so strong it could only be felt. She took a quick breath and regained control of her emotions.

"Civilians like him were simply a casualty of war," Raoul said, coming up behind her, "That is why we had to stop it. The spirits had to make a compromise for the two kings, something that was both advanced and one with nature…"

"Magic," Scar stated in realization.

"Yes. We gave the humans the gift of magic, a way for creatures and man to live in peace. Of course, this magic created new species of animals and peoples, but ever since then all has been relatively well." The spirit touched Scar's shoulder, his fingers feeling cool through her clothing, and she spun to face him.

"Scarletta," he looked deeply into her eyes, "You must make sure something like this never happens again." He motioned outwards with his arm to all of the blood-stained leftovers of war. Scar slowly nodded in understanding.

Raoul turned away from the child's corpse to start walking again. Scar had no choice but to trail him. As they avoided stepping on centuries old dead bodies, the world around them began to crumble, as if it were turning to ash. The new environment that surrounded the sorceress and spirit king was dark and dreary. Tombs and grave markings were everywhere in the dead grasses, the occasional caw of a raven breaking the deathly silence.

"Where are we going?" Scar asked quietly as her curiosit got the best of her.

"We're going to meet someone. Someone very important," Raoul said sternly as they were coming upon a shallow pit in the center of the graveyard.

When Scar was near enough to look into the dip in the ground, she saw a man, or at least what used to be a man, lying limply across a bed of rocks. His skin was a dull, rotting gray and every bone in his body was exposed, yet the feature Scar found to be most ominous about him were the glowing, yellow eyes sunken deep into his skull.

The thing moved its head to stare in the direction she and Raoul were standing, causing Scar to jump. "Who- Who's there?" it asked, its voice extremely scratchy and almost frantic.

"It's I," Raoul answered seeming to be not at all disturbed the grotesque creature talking to him.

"Oh Raoul, what a pleasant surprise. And you brought a mortal with you?"

The king of spirits did not respond, but instead glaring at the ugly thing expectantly.

"Child," the near-corpse's hoarse voice rang out to Scar, "I'll make a deal with you. The deal of a lifetime." He beckoned for her to come closer.

"That's enough, Teki!" Raoul shielded Scar away from him with the draping arm of his robe. The name Teki was all too familiar to Scar from Baba's teachings; he was the Spirit of Death.

"But the last one… He took it so well," Teki nearly whispered.

"Enough of your tricks, brother!" Raoul boomed, causing the Death Spirit to shudder in fear where it lay. Another flash of white submerged everything in sight, and when the light faded Scar and the Raoul were once again on the beautiful hilltop where they'd met.

"What was that all about?" a thoroughly confused Scar asked.

Raoul sighed. "The Spirit of Death was someone you needed to meet. For seeing death itself makes one realize how valuable life truly is. Life is something worth defending, Scarletta. Remember that."

"I will," Scar grinned at the enlightenment she had gained.

"There is one final detail I need to add. You will meet three others soon. They will be as important to you as they are to Sodamonia. Farewell, my friend."

"Farewell? What do you mean-" Before she could finish her sentence, the King of Spirits gave her a violent push, sending her tumbling into darkness.

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**Scar: So these 'readers,' they're basically watching me from all over the world? 0.0**

**Me: Sounds about right. :)**

**Scar: That's really creepy. 0.0"**

**Me: As it should be. :)**

**Scar: I wanna go home. DX**

**Me: LOL XD**

**Thanks again for reading! And I'd like to send out a special thank-you to my beta-readers, No Filter, Golden feathers Edward, and Strawberry Rainshower. Be sure to look them up! :3**

**Reviews=Love ;)**


	2. Chapter 2: A Restless Night

**A/N**

**Me: Hi everybody! So I'm doing spectacularly in Nanowrimo (I already have 10,900 words!), and I was so excited I put up chapter 2 before letting my beta-readers do their stuff. XP**

**Scar: *gasp* You are a terrible person! D:**

**Me: Yeah, I know. But I was itching to get it on here so bad! XP**

**Scar: Shame on you. :(**

**Me: Hey, I gotta please my readers. :3**

**Scar: You have no readers.**

**Me: Touche. XP**

**DISCLAIMAH!: I own all the stuffs in this thingy. But go ahead and take anything you want. I can't afford copyrights.**

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_Chapter 2: A Restless Night_

Blood-curdling shrieks filled Scar's ears as she fell. The thread that was still attached to her wrist was pulling at her so hard she feared it would snap, and just when she thought the string was breaking, a sharp yank from the other side of it sent her flying into the opposite direction she'd been falling. The colors and sounds of Sodamonia once again played aloud as she returned upwards; only this time there was no pain. Her soul slammed into her waiting, drifting body, retying all of the broken stitches.

Pictures flooded her vision: Children and women weeping. A man running for his life. Dark creatures in the shadows. Ruin. Terror. Blood. A huge, black cat attacked. Then suddenly the flurry of images ended with a flame flickering in the never-ending darkness.

_ 'We will engulf all. We will create society anew. And from these ashes will rise the perfect world.' _

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Scar raised her face from the eternity water with a gasp, her body shivering uncontrollably. It took her moment to realize where she was, back in Baba's hut. Baba had been waiting for her to finish by sitting in the corner knitting a rug, one of her favorite pastimes. The candles placed on several shelves and the window of the hut alerted Scar that it was already night. "How long was I out?" she asked as she began to catch her breath.

"Quite a few hours. I've never heard of anyone Seeing anything for that long. Most last for only a minute or so," Baba got up and wiped the dripping mixture of eternity water and sweat off of her student's face using a damp cloth, "What happened? In your vision, what did you See?"

"Raoul. He spoke with me."

"A spirit! You talked to a spirit?" Baba looked at Scar in bewilderment, "No sorceress has ever seen a spirit much less conversed with one!"

Scar rubbed the back of her head humbly. "I guess I'm special."

"You most certainly are." The old sorceress's face broke into a tender smile, and she pulled something out from her belt-sash. "I think you're ready for this as well." Baba held out a skin full of liquid, which Scar curiously took from her. The teenager gently popped off the cap and peered inside to find it to the brim with the sparkling eternity water.

"Oh thank you, Baba!" Scar gave her teacher the biggest hug she could manage.

Baba accepted the affection graciously. "Now you can use your new ability whenever you feel the need to connect to the magic world, new sorceress of Monataro." Scar nearly had tears in her eyes she was grinning so hard, but the feelings of accomplishment quickly vanished as exhaustion took over.

"I'd love to teach you more about Seeing, but you're probably a little tired from your trip," Baba teased as they pulled away from the embrace.

Scar yawned loudly. "I'm not tired. I'm ready to learn more. Please?" she pleaded drowsily.

"Not tonight, my dear," Baba beamed warmly, remembering back to when she had first crossed over to the magic world and returned. The old sorceress' teacher, Master Thunge, had had to prevent her from falling asleep and letting her head drop back into the eternity water that was in front of her. "Tomorrow we will continue."

"Ok," Scar said, obviously fighting the urge to snooze right where she was, "Good night, Baba."

"Not yet," Baba stopped her, getting her feet as quickly as an old woman could. "You haven't eaten all day. Get some bread in you before you go to bed." She took some of Monataro's famous, fresh-baked, seasoned bread and handed it to her pupil.

As soon as the food reached her hands, Scar realized just how starved she truly was and wolfed the bread down while standing. Once she had finished eating, she brushed the crumbs off her tunic and bowed to her teacher before heading to her own hut. "Thank you."

"Good night, my child," Baba said as Scar exited through the door, shutting it softly behind her.

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With a point of her finger Scar lit a candle that was sitting on the windowsill of her hut using her fire magic. Scar's hut held an empty and lonely ambiance, as she had no family to share it with. In the corner of the tiny home sat a pile of hay covered in a soft cloth that served as her bed. Next to it sat another candle on the dirt floor as well as a wooden trunk with a leafy design on the opposite side. Nothing else was in the room as Scar trudged over to the trunk and lifted open the top; inside were all the trinkets and treasures she'd collected over the years: a rock shaped like a heart, herbs that were supposed to bring happiness and luck, a toy mazelle she'd played with when she was younger, a book of exciting adventures which had been read so often its spine was on the verge of tearing, a sharpened hunting knife, and, the most important object she owned, a beautiful gold necklace with a fiery red pendent. The necklace was all she had left of her mother.

Scar gently placed the skin of eternity water in the nearest open space of the trunk, and immediately thereafter her vision was drawn to the sparkle of the necklace. Her hand moved to pick it up, yet something inside her told her not to touch. She pulled her fingertips away from the jewelry and instead wrapped them around the edge of the book.

A happy expression came across her face as she recalled all of the wonderful stories the pages held, all of the places its words had taken her, and all of the people she would have given almost anything to meet just once. Reading was more than a hobby of Scar's; it was an adoration. Unfortunately her love of the written word had been limited to this single book, as these things were hard to come by in such a rural town as Monataro. Rather, things were passed down by mouth than by writings.

Scar plopped down on her bed of hay and summoned a flame to her palm to light the candle beside her. She eagerly cracked open the novel, turning to her favorite short story. It was about the most brave, beautiful princess in the world rescuing her love, a goatherd, from the clutches of an evil dragon. This in particular was her favorite because it gave the girl a chance to be strong, too; no more waiting for some dumb, old prince to save a weakling damsel-in-distress. In the end of the tale the princess defeated the beast using her keen wit and rode off into the sunset with her beloved. Though she hated to admit it, Scar had a soft spot for "happily ever afters."

Not long after beginning her adventures through the pages, Scar's eyelids began to droop again. She let out a defeated sigh and sent a blast of wind to blow out the two candles that had kept the room semi-lighted. With a light 'thunk', she let the book drop to the floor beside her bed, silently promising herself to remember to put it back in the trunk in the morning. She settled down further into the cloth-covered hay to attempt to drift off to sleep, yet the night had other plans.

As soon as she shut her eyes, Scar was back in the battlegrounds she had Seen in her vision. The only difference from before was that all of the sensations were intensified; the scent of blood was stronger than ever, the sky glowed an even darker red, the bodies lying on the dirt had rotted to the point of skeletons.

"Why?" The question coming from Scar's rear made her jump. She instantly whipped around to see a ghostly figure, its body mangled from warfare. The sorceress immediately recognized it as the little, dead boy she had encountered from her last time in this awful place.

"Why didn't you save me, Scar?" the boy asked, his lifeless eyes staring through her, "Why?"

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!" she shouted at the boy as her heart pounded a million miles an hour.

His innocent face began to melt away in front of her very eyes. Startled, Scar backed away only to trip over a soldier's corpse. At this, all of the skeletons turned their heads to look in her direction. Beads of sweat covered Scar's face as the bones in soldiers' uniforms stood up, their vacant eye-sockets staying on her. Following her instincts, she quickly got to her feet and ran. The clanking of bones coming from behind her as the skeletons had attacked the place she'd been standing moments before. When they realized they had missed her, the hordes of dead people joined together to chase after her. Scar nimbly dodged each carcass while they reached out to grab her until finally she made it to the edge of the battlefield. She glanced back to see that thousands of bony hands and their horrifying owners were only meters away. She looked towards the direction she was sprinting for her life in to find herself going over the edge of a cliff. As she fell, the colors and sounds of shrieking similar to those of her vision surrounded her.

"Come to me, my precious child. Come to me!" Teki's cold, heartless voice reverberated in her ears. A scream let out. Whether or not it was her own, she didn't know.

Scar awakened suddenly and sat upright in bed, tears streaming down her face. She was safe and snug at home; "No need to worry," she repeated to herself over and over in her head. She looked around the empty, moonlit room as she regained her composure. Never before in her life had she felt so alone. Hesitantly, she got up from her bed, a chill going down her spine as her bare feet touched the cold earth, and hurried over to her trunk. Opening it with ease, Scar reached delicately down for the golden necklace. It had been so long since she'd put it on, seeing that she saw it almost as something sacred, but this is exactly what she did. Not believing what she'd done, Scar stood completely rigid. Everything was so silent she could hear her slow, thudding pulse in her ears. After a few minutes her body relaxed and revealed just how tired she really was. With a loud yawn, Scar made her way back to her bed and curled up in the fetal position. She held the pendent close to her heart, feeling as if she were in a held in a tender hug. Love seemed to radiate from the rouge crystal and warmed Scar all the way to her core. Needless to say she slept soundly for the rest of the night, having nothing but sweet dreams of frolicking with Genevieve on the plains.

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It was still dark outside when Scar awakened. Not feeling at all sleepy, which was unusual for her this early, she sat up in bed. Something bounced against her chest, causing her to jump slightly until she remembered she had worn her mother's necklace overnight.

Scar placed the necklace back in its place carefully. At this point she realized how dry her mouth was, so she searched through the trunk for her water-flask. After looking for it for a few moments, she picked it out of the mess of articles and shook it; it felt extremely light. She popped open the lid to look inside and found it to be empty, not a single drop left. Scar let out a defeated sigh. If she could, she would've created water with her sorcery, but magically produced water was undrinkable, as she had discovered the last time she had tried she had had severe stomach pains for the week following. The only place in Monataro to get drinking water was from the well just outside the village, and so Scar slipped on her moccasin-like shoes and exited her hut into the chilly morning. Outside the streets were empty as Scar hurried walked, water-flask in hand. To someone foreign to Monataro, they may have found the scene rather eerie, with the sheets hanging out to dry, all of the windows of the huts revealing nothing but darkness, and the sound of a plainswolf howling its lonely call in the distance. Yet all Scar noticed were the lovely harmonies created by the crickets' symphony of chirps and the occasional snores coming from a few of the huts' windows.

She pulled the bucket up from the deepest depths of the well with only a few, hard tugs. The water in the bucket was brown with sediments from the bottom of the well; Scar used her earth magic to coax the mud from the water and let it drop to the ground. Not wanting to accidentally spill any of the now-clear liquid on the ground, she waved her hand to lift the water from the bucket and gently funnel it into her waiting flask. She eagerly took several gulps of water the moment she had it filled up full.

As she re-capped the water-flask, her eyes wandered out to the open plains. Scar felt herself being drawn to its beauty, so, dropping her flask next to the well, she ran out freely into the grasslands. She loved the way the yellowed grass tickled the bottoms of her feet through the holes in her shoes, the way the dirt cushioned her every footstep. This was happiness. This was home. When she had made her way into the middle of the field, she wasted no time in beginning to practice her battle sorcery; she spent the next few hours sending fiery kicks, intense water sprays, huge rocks, and hurricane-like winds at imaginary enemies. Though it wasn't long before the night sky began changing into a light shade of lavender, signaling the rise of the sun was coming soon. Content that she had practiced enough, Scar walked over to the well to grab her water-flask and head back to her hut to prepare for the day, but before Scar entered her own hut, she noticed a light coming from beneath Baba's door as well as voices emanating from behind it. Curious, Scar snuck over, tip-toing quietly to her teacher's hut, and silently cracked the door so she could peek in. Three people wearing black robes with hoods covering their faces surrounded Baba almost intimidatingly. The one in the center was currently speaking to the old sorceress, so Scar listened in.

"… So consider this an invitation." The man didn't sound too happy about the invitation, as if he were being forced to give it.

"No." Baba's voice was in a quiet fury as she stood strongly against the man and shook her head solemnly.

"There would be a place waiting for you amongst the highest ranked of our members."

"I won't join you."

"Terrible things could happen to that girl of yours."

"No! What you all are doing is wrong! Horribly horrible wrong!" she yelled at them fiercely. Scar had never seen her so angry before, and it scared her.

The man's slight smile was visible from beneath this hood. "Our leader will not be pleased. If you are not a friend of the Panthers you are merely our enemy." Instantly he pulled out a long knife and thrust it at Baba. She tried to defend herself by throwing up an earthen wall to block the weapon, but the man in black was too fast. The rock was only to her waist by the time his blade embedded itself into her and was pulled back out. The old woman fell to the ground, the gash in her chest bleeding profusely.

"Baba!" Scar screamed, revealing her hiding place, and pushed open the door to run to her mentor.

"The apprentice! Seize her!" one of the men in black commanded. Scar stopped in her tracks to blow away the figures with a powerful gust of wind before sending out a blast of fire to scorch one of them to smithereens. She had never killed anyone before, yet Scar felt no remorse as the burned figure crashed to the dirt dead. The second of the three got back up in a fraction of a second to throw a poisoned dart at her which she nimbly dodged and countered with creating two rocks from the ground and slamming him between them, leaving a squashed, bloody mess. The last of the shadowy figures, who was obviously fearful of her power, punched a hole through the back of the hut and escaped. Scar didn't have time to worry about him, instead running to Baba.

"Baba!" she hurriedly knelt down next to her teacher and placed the old sorceress's head on her lap.

"My child, it is time for me to go," Baba whispered between strained breaths.

"No! You can't go! Please!" Scar begged with tears in her eyes.

"Scar, I tried."

"I know. I know you tried to stop them."

"No," the old woman coughed up some blood before continuing even quieter, "I tried to prepare you for this. You will do great things, but never alone. You must leave now. Take your things and go."

"I won't leave you!" Scar sobbed.

"Please. Save yourself. Don't die in vain. Just remember, I love-" Baba stopped speaking, leaving Scar in a deathly silence. Scar could feel her teacher's life leave her body.

"I love you, too." One of Scar's teardrops fell onto the dead old woman's cheek. It only took her a few seconds of grieving to realize that she needed to follow Baba's dying wishes; it would've been the highest act of dishonor if she hadn't listened, so, with a kiss on her beloved master's forehead, she got up and sprinted over to her hut to get packing. When Scar was inside her hut, she grabbed her satchel that was hanging from a metal peg in the wall, threw open her trunk, and tossed everything she owned into the bag, her mother's beautiful necklace included. Once she was done packing, she was about to head outside when she heard a loud ruckus and a scream from behind the door. Scar quickly opened it to discover a scene worse than any of her nightmares could possible hold.

At least two dozen of the figures dressed exactly like the ones she had fought in Baba's hut were outside terrorizing the village. Some were breaking into homes, killing and taking whatever they could find. Others were creating fire and setting huts ablaze as well as flooding out places with water. Villagers who weren't dead or too injured to move were running away frantically towards the Hangarti Plains. A small heap lying on the side of the street caught Scar's attention. She recognized it immediately and ran toward it.

"Martwen!" He was face-down on the ground, his body badly bloodied and burned. Memories of the vision in the battlefield came flooding back to her, causing her to almost be sick. She fell to her knees in front of him, yet she dared not touch him or turn his corpse over in fear of seeing the boy from her nightmare again. The little, energetic body that had been so full of life less than a day ago; it was hard for her to believe that what was in front of her used to be her friend. Scar's vision turned a vicious red. A rage filled everything inside her; she felt like at any moment she could explode.

"So you're the apprentice I've been told about," a man's thick-as-honey voice came from behind her. Scar immediately jumped to her feet and whipped around, creating balls of fire in her palms. Standing about ten meters down the street on which Scar had been mourning her young friend was another one of the figures in black.

"What the hell do you want?!" Scar roared at him. The man took off the hood hiding his face. His skin and hair were pale white, and his fiery red eyes stared amusedly at the furious sorceress as if he intended to toy with her like a cat with a mouse.

"Oh, nothing much," the albino said casually with a grin, as if he were completely ignoring the destruction occurring around him, "It took quite a while to find this place. To find you. Your teacher hid herself well. Yet not well enough for me. It's a pity my superior sent me to kill you. You would've made a fine member of the Panthers, seeing what you did to my soldiers back in that hut." A long knife covered in blood slipped out of his robe's sleeve for him to catch in his hand.

Scar instantly recognized the blade. "You! You murdered Baba!"

"The old hag? I guess I did. I'm almost glad she denied my invitation. She was probably one of the most powerful sorceresses I've taken out yet, as you will be."

Scar ran at the man with a battle cry of fury, flames stronger than she'd ever made them before. The man dodged quickly, more quickly than any normal human would have been able to run. As sorceresses were granted with the ability to control the four natural elements, sorcerers were incredibly fast and strong. Scar's fiery fist slammed into the ground where the albino had been just moments before and turned around as the man came up behind her with his blade aiming for her head. Scar brought up a wall of rock to block the blow. He crashed into it with a 'thunk.' She brought the earth back down and countered with a flaming kick while he was slightly dazed into the gut.

"Aaagh!" he shrieked as the flesh on his stomach blistered at the heat while he flew a few meters before crashing into the dirt hard.

"My, my, aren't you the powerful one? My superior should have requested me to invite you rather than that Baba of yours," he said with a pained grin as he got up. Scar angrily bared her teeth at him with fire erupting from her hands as she waited for him to make his next move. The albino leaped up to the sky and onto the roof of one of the burning huts. Scar, thinking he was cowardly retreating used her air magic to propel her into the roof as well. As soon as she landed on the thatch, the man came at her again with his blade. Scar pulled up rocks from below to cover her arms which she then used to block his hit. From there the man attempted time after time to strike at her, yet she thwarted and parried every blow. The albino, growing more and more furious at every failed strike, began to stab at her with a stronger force. Scar, on the other hand, was having a tough time keeping the blade away from her skin, and the rocks that were covering her forearms were chipping away with every smash of the weapon against them. Finally, the albino caught her off-guard and used the blunt edge of his knife to hit her shoulder, sending her flying off the roof and hitting the ground.

She felt a painful pop in her shoulder, letting out a scream of pain. The albino man gracefully landed on the ground next to her as she quickly jumped back to her feet, her arm hanging limply to her side. The man smiled, knowing he was winning.

"Any last words, Scarletta?" he stated, the grin still glued firmly to his face.

Scar's breathing was heavy, and she fought to stay conscious through all of the pain coursing through her body. "Yeah. Bite me, asshole." With that, she gave a fast, flaming roundhouse kick aimed for his chest, yet he caught it with one hand. She then took her other foot and jumped to give a mighty kick, this time making contact with his chest and sending him soaring backwards to slam into the mud wall of a hut. He was knocked unconscious. After a moment of silently celebrating her victory, she turned to look at the destruction of Monataro.

"Oh no," she whispered. The village behind her was in ruins and corpses of people she'd known all her life were lying around rotting. The other figures in black were finishing their ransacking and began heading towards her, seeing that she had defeated what she guessed to be their leader. In as much pain as she was in, her uncontrollable rage was itching to kill them all and finish off that albino, yet her physical condition was too weak to even consider it. She had no choice but to flee. Scar ran towards the stables, which were on fire but still standing, and gave a loud whistle as she opened the gate to one of the pens. Out of the smoke Genevieve galloped up to her with a yip. Using her wind magic to give her a boost Scar leaped onto her mazelle's back.

"Hyah!" Scar hollered. The mazelle instantly charged forward, almost knocking over several of the figures in black as they passed. As Genevieve's delicate-looking hooves carried Scar away she peered back at the Monataro as it grew smaller and smaller until it looked like an ember in the distance.

"I will avenge you. I promise," Scar whispered to the crumbling village while she raced farther away from her home, into the unknown.

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**Me: Hey, Scar. :3**

**Scar: Yeah? :/**

**Me: Remember what you said about having no readers? :3**

**Scar: Um yeah? :/**

**Me: Well guess what! I've got at least one! See! I got a review! XD**

**Scar: What? 0.o**

**Me: Suck it! XD**

**Thanks for wasting all those minutes reading my unworthy literature. And thank you Bittersweet Morsel for the lovely review with one of my old characters which I gave to her, Target. I guess it's a fair trade considering Scar was hers.**

**Scar: I belonged to who?! 0.0"**

**Me: Nothing! Go back to what you were doing! XP**

**Scar: Uh-huh. Nothing suspicious here. *eye roll and walks away***

**Me: Phew! Good thing she remembers nothing... MWAHAHAHA!**

**Reviews= Love :3**


	3. Chapter 3: Balance of Power

**A/N**

**Me: -sigh- So I dropped out of Nanowrimo. :'(**

**Scar: What? Why? 0.o**

**Me: I just can't do it. I lost my writing buddy. :/**

**Scar: So I'm not your writing buddy? Without me there'd be no writing!**

**DISHCLAIMAH!: It's mine! All mine!... But seriously I take copy-cats affectionately. :3**

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_Chapter 3: Balance of Power_

Scar's body ached with weakness as she led Genevieve over the plains. They duo had been on the run nonstop for two days under the blistering sun and freezing night sky. Scar had no idea where they were, and she could feel her body crumbling with every step she took. The arm she had injured in battle hurt terribly. Genevieve nearly collapsed in exhaustion more than once every few minutes; mazelles were hardy creatures, but this was too much for even the mightiest of mazelles to take. Neither the sorceress nor her steed had eaten since being back in Monataro, and Scar's water-flask had run completely dry from drinking it all the day before.

All that went through Scar's mind as she trudged on were thoughts of fury and anger; the rage from the two days before boiled in her. She half wanted to find civilization to take care of her physical health, yet she wasn't sure she wanted to find other people for the sake of not blowing them all to pieces if she met them. Scar had never felt such hatred in her heart as she did for mankind at that point. Her thoughts often traveled back to when she had killed those two soldiers back in Monataro; how good it felt to watch them fall after seeing what they'd done to Baba. Ever since she had witnessed her teacher's brutal murder she had had a fiery frenzy inside her belly, causing her mind to go numb with absolute anger.

As the two were dragging their feet down a rather steep hill of the plains, Genevieve's legs finally gave out and she fell to the ground. Scar grabbed at her mazelle's head, trying to pull her back up.

"Come on, Genevieve!" Scar begged with what little energy she had, "We've... We've got to keep moving. We can't... We can't let them find us." She was having trouble speaking as she began to lose motor control due to dehydration. Genevieve let out a pitiful yip. Scar sighed desperately.

Scar could feel the rage overtaking her as she pulled on Genevieve's head nearly to the point of hurting her. "Let's go, damnit! You stupid ass of an animal! I knew I shouldn't have brought you! You only hold me back! I should kill you right now! More food for me! You just don't get-" She was interrupted by the sound of pants and paw steps running at them from behind her. She whipped around to find a whole pack of plainswolves racing towards them from across the plain, their sandy colored fur blending into the browns of the plain. One of them let out a howl of excitement. Scar had seen this a thousand times before when she had watched the animals from a safe distance back at home. It was a definite sign that they were getting into their hunting formation; the sorceress and her mazelle had become their prey.

"Genevieve! Get up! Get up girl!" A nervous Scar almost violently yanked at her steed with her good arm, causing Genevieve to let out a whinny of protest. The pack of wolves was approaching fast. Scar was going to have to fight. Turning at the beasts, she tried to create a wall of flames to stop them, yet the plainswolves simply jumped through it; the flames produced from her weary body were far too weak. Scar tried to battle again by summoning some rocks from the ground and chucking them at the oncoming predators. Yet with her aim gone due to her vision being incredibly fuzzy, the attack only took out a few of the dozen or so that were coming at them.

Scar began to get tunnel-vision, making her very dizzy. "No!" she yelled at herself as her body automatically began to slip into unconsciousness. The wolves were only about twenty meters away. She focused hard to keep awake, yet it was difficult in her debilitated state. Suddenly, a strange power coursed through her veins, relieving her of the fatigue. Her skin slightly glowed a reddish golden hue and white fire came to her palms. Just as the first wolf jumped at her, its jaws targeting her neck, Scar knocked it down with one of her flaming fists. It let out a yelp of surprise and ran off back in the direction it had come from. The other beasts ignored its cowardly comrade as they attempted to attack her all at once. With the flick her of wrist, Scar had created a ring of fire around her and Genevieve which stopped the wolves in their tracks. One of them sniffed it curiously, bringing its nose to close to the fiery wall in the process. It immediately pulled back with a yip of pain at the burn on its snout and growled in anger. Another of the animals, gradually figureing out that hunting this prey was hopeless, gave a swift bark to the others. With that, the plainswolves retreated back into the hills with empty bellies in search of another meal.

As soon as they were out of sight the glowing Scar's skin faded and the flames in her hands slowly went out. Though her injured shoulder seemed as if it were healed, she felt even weaker than before the attack; if she wasn't completely drained before, she was now. Her legs began to crumple beneath her. The last thing she heard was a quiet, concerned yip from Genevieve. Her vision went black as she passed out, hitting the dry earth with a 'thunk.'

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Scar awakened feeling surrounded by something warm and soft. She instantly threw the thing off of her, getting into her battle stance. After a moment her muscles relaxed when she realized there was no threat. Instead she found herself in some sort of stone ruins with a wall at least ten meters high going around it. She had been unconscious on in what seemed to be a town square with a cobblestone circle embedded in the ground. Genevieve, who had been grazing on a pile of straw, raised her head in curiosity at her rider's sudden movement. The padding of footsteps came from the other side of one of the destroyed buildings. Scar braced herself for the worst, only to have an old man walking cheerfully towards her carrying a woven basket of fresh fruits and veggies.

His browned body was extremely gaunt, his ribs completely visible, and the hair on his head had grayed so much it had the slightest tint of blue. Wrinkles covered his gentle looking face, giving him the appearance that he had spent most of his life smiling. He wore nothing but a loin cloth and a pair of sandals. Scar wished he was wearing more considering the ugliness of his old, ragged body. Yet somehow his frail form held a certain wise, innocent poise.

"Ah! You're awake I see." His grin widened.

"Where... Where am I?" Scar rubbed her pulsing forehead.

"Yengi Fortress. Used way back in the Dark War, I believe. Anyways, found you out in the middle of heat I did," he said cheerfully as he placed the basket of fruits and vegetables in front of her. "Please! Eat! You look skinny as a stick."

"Speak for yourself," Scar snapped while pushing away the food grumpily.

The elderly man looked down at his own thin body. "Ah. Nippy one, aren't you?" the man laughed.

His mockery enraged her. "What the hell does it mean to you?" She paused for a moment. "Who are you anyways?"

"Byron. My name is Byron. And you are Scarletta, am I right?"

A shocked look came over Scar's face. "How do you know my name?"

"The spirits," he grabbed an apple from the basket he'd brought for her and took a bite from it, "They told me you'd be coming."

"What? Are you a sorceress or something?" she said, her voice heavily laced with sarcasm.

"Actually, no. Neither am I a sorcerer." He took another bite of the apple. "I can read the stars."

Scar looked up into the daylight as if she were looking for the bright orbs herself only for her to realize she wouldn't see any while the sun was out. She harrumphed. "Who taught you that?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, "I learned it, I guess. I read it as easy as you with words on paper."

"And the 'star words' told you I was coming?"

"Yep," Byron stated almost in a boasting manner. He didn't bother to finish the fruit he was eating, instead throwing it towards Genevieve who munched on it happily.

"You're a crazy bastard." She turned to her mazelle, walking away from the old man. "Come on, Genevieve. Let's get the hell out of here. We can go back to Monataro and look for survivors.

"Wait! Wait!" the old man shrieked at her, "I know who destroyed your village! You can't leave! You have a prophecy to fulfill!"

"You truly are nuts, old man… Wait a second. My village? You know who did it?" Scar whipped around back towards him, a fiery rage in her eyes.

"Yes! Yes!" Byron said excitedly, "Just please, stay! The stars gave me some things to tell you, to teach you."

Scar grabbed him by the neck and held a fireball in her other hand. "You're going to tell me who did it. And then you're going to tell me how to get out of this dumbass fortress. Got it?" she ordered him, her tone full of bloodlust. At that moment the elderly man moved more quickly than she imagined as he brought up his hands, placing a finger on her forehead and the other at the base of her throat. Scar's eyes went wide; a chilling, almost relieving flood of coolness overcame her. A small fraction of the rage she'd had from the attack of Monataro melted off her. She let go of Byron, slipping to the ground in a heap.

"It's just as I thought. The spirits were right," the old man pondered and rubbed his sore neck as Scar sat on the ground in a daze.

"What… What was that?" she asked while holding her head, which was so much lighter now that some of the anger had disappeared.

Byron began walking away towards the ruins of the fortress and motioned for the girl to follow. "Come. I'll explain." Scar got herself up from the cobblestone to hurry after him, still wondering what he had done to make her feel so relaxed. The two strolled in silence as they passed numerous, ancient stone buildings, some of which were nothing more than a pile of rocks. It wasn't long before Byron began to approach one of the towers that seemed to be right smack dab in the center of the fortress. Scar stared at the building in astonishment; it was the tallest structure she had ever seen, not that she had seen too many types of architecture besides the mud huts back in her now decimated home. The tower had to be at least six stories high.

"I hope you like stairs," Byron chuckled, breaking Scar from her awed trance. He opened the wooden door for her to go in first. Inside was a small room filled with bags of fruits, vegetables, and some smoked meats as well as a huge staircase that spiraled around the walls of the tower. Scar looked towards the sky; the ceiling seemed thousands up miles up.

"This is where I keep my food stashed," the old man said proudly while pointing to the stock of various, bagged goodies, "Feel free to have some if you like." Scar regretted not eating from the basket he'd brought for her as she realized how starved she was. She eagerly reached into a sack for a couple of handfuls of dried meat and ate it so fast Byron was surprised she didn't bite off a finger.

He grinned. "Glad to see your appetite's back."

Scar let out an unlady-like burp. "Yep," she chirped and patted her stomach cheerfully.

"Now, come along. We aren't there yet." The old man began the long ascent up the stairs, moving slowly but surely. Scar followed close behind him, and she politely tried to keep from going ahead of his sluggish pace.

When they were about two of the six flights up Scar asked him, "Would it be better if I carried you?"

Byron stopped and turned to her, his brow drenched in sweat. "Phew! I was hoping you'd ask." With that, Scar bent her knees for the old man to climb onto her back piggy-back style. The two moved at least twice as fast as they had previously, and before long they had reached the top of the tower. The highest floor had no roof. Instead a wall about four feet high encircled the edges to perhaps keep people from tumbling off the side of the tower. The midday sky was cloudless, the warm, glowing heat from the sun giving the sorceress new energy as she placed Byron back on the floor.

"Ah! Here we are. This is my favorite place in the fortress," he sighed contentedly while walked over to the furthermost wall to place his elbows on it and stare mesmerized into the horizon beyond the fortress's great walls.

"Ahem," Scar interrupted his dreamy moment, "What was it you wanted to explain?"

"Hm? Oh yes! That." The old man trotted over to the center of the roof and sat down cross-legged, Scar copying his example.

"Now," Byron continued, "Meditate for me."

"What?"

"Meditate."

Scar let out a sigh and shut her eyes. "Alright. If you say so." She then took a deep, slow breath in, held it for a second, and gently let it out. She placed one hand in a fist in front of her chest, laying the other softly on top of it as she usually did for reaching the calmest, yet most powerful state of mind. Yet when Scar tried to clear her thoughts a wall of fiery anger came across her. She gritted her teeth as images of Baba's murder, Martwen's corpse, and the albino in black flashed on the back of her eyelids. The sorceress let out a gasp as her eyes flew open; she couldn't take it anymore. Byron watched her with concern, and she caught her breath.

"You!" she screamed in rage at him as she jumped to her feet, "You made me do this! You made me bring back those horrible memories! I know it's all my fault! There's no need to rub it in my face, you asshole!" Scar's skin had begun to glow again as she shrieked. The white flames returned to her hands, and she brandished them near his head.

The old man got up as fast as he could, nearly dodging one of the sorceress's fireballs. He touched her on her forehead and neck as he had previously. Her pupils dilated while he tried to calm her, and it took only seconds until she had fallen to the floor, the glowing of her skin and white fire gone. He then sat down in front of Scar as she recovered from the rage.

"I'm so sorry," she gasped, sweat dripping down her chin. "I didn't mean it. I-I couldn't control it. It just happened."

The old man nodded understandingly. "Here. Try again, but this time think of freezing cold water. Nothing else. Just focus on the coolness," he instructed. The sorceress nodded and sat down again to prepare for a second attempt at meditating. As she closed her eyes her mind formed a single raindrop falling from an endless sky. The steady beat of her heart sounded like a drum in the background. The drop of water was so clear and clean and perfect. It fell for everlasting seconds before hitting the earthen ground with a splash, and all of the rage, all of the anger Scar had had within her soul dissipated. An explosion of whiteness hit her, causing her to go deeper into her meditation than she ever had in her life. She could feel the power seeping into her with every beat of her pulse. Scar opened her eyes, a refreshed sparkle in her gaze.

"How did that happen?" she asked wondrously, "I feel great! A little woozy, but great!"

Byron grinned. "You were out of balance with your elements."

"Outta who what?"

"You see, Scar," he explained, "As you know, sorceresses were blessed with the ability to command the four natural elements to their will. However, every sorceress has her true element, the one she feels closest to. Their souls are very much connected to their true element, and occasionally it gets out of control. You, Scar, belong to the sorceresses who work best with fire. Unfortunately, your fire within got a little too wild. That usually happens when something traumatic occurs." Scar thought back to the pillaging of Monataro. "The only way to cure such an illness is to balance it out with its opposite. In your case it's water."

"So, if I just concentrate on water the bad stuff will stop happening?" Scar tilted her head in curiosity.

"Well, not quite. There's one more eensy weensy thing you need to do," Byron stated with a kindly smile glued to his face.

"And that is?"

"You need to increase your inner water energy."

"How?"

"Practice using water in your sorcery," he answered while pointing her hand, "Now, procure some."

She easily summoned liquid to her palm and offered it out for him to see.

"Good. Can you juggle with it?"

"Juggle? Um... Sure?" Scar created more water and began throwing it into the air over and over to make a ring of water going round and round. The old man watched in an almost childish joy as she moved the liquid nimbly from hand to hand.

"Quick question," she said while continuing to toss the water, "Why juggling?"

"Glad you asked," Byron stated, sounding like he was going to say something serious next, "Well... I haven't seen a water juggler in years!"

Scar instantly dropped the liquid to the ground where it started to evaporate in the heat and rolled her eyes.

Byron pouted when she stopped entertaining him. "That and you need to practice your water magic," he sighed.

"Uh-huh." She crossed her arms.

"If you don't want to do that, then do something more advanced and make an ocean or something. I don't know! I'm no sorceress."

Scar gave him a determined grin. "You got it." She raised her hands into the air, focusing her mind on summoning a huge amount of water. The clear liquid rushed in behind her to begin taking the form of a huge dragon, its wings spanning at least twelve meters. The scales covering its body shone like diamonds in the afternoon sun, yet the animal was opaque like the material it was made from.

"Whoa," the old man said, his jaw dropping.

Scar looked at her creation as it stared fiercely into her eyes with its own glowing blue ones. Daintily, she reached out with her hand to touch the creature she had made, and it gently pushed its head forward to lay her palm on the end of its snout. Scar felt as if she had stuck her hand in a puddle, yet she let her fingers lightly caress the beast a little longer, before a sudden, boiling puff of steam escaped its nostrils in an exhale. She turned back to Byron. "Wanna go for a ride?"

The old man's eyes grew as big as oranges and nodded enthusiastically. Scar stepped on top of the wall's edge to help the Byron up and onto the watery beast. Steam came from its nostrils as the sorceress hopped onto its back.

"Hyah!" she yelled to it. It didn't budge. "Hm, that's weird. That usually works with Genevieve."

"Maybe dragons are different," Byron shrugged.

"Go! Move it! Yee-haw! Let's go!" she shouted. Still, the dragon simply looked back at its rider with a confused expression.

Byron smacked himself in the head as he remembered something. "Dragons only speak Drulic. So, say... um... What's the word? Oh right! Tah tah!" With those last words, the dragon let out a might roar and began to flap its wings.

"Huh. That wasn't too hard," Scar said simply while the beast lifted off the ground.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, I kind of like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!" Byron finished his sentence with a surprised yell as the dragon shot into the sky at lightning speed.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! How the hell do you steer this thing?!" Scar screamed as the passing air rushed against her face, making her eyes water.

"Your water magic! Use your water magic!" he responded as loudly as he could while he clung to her waist for his life. Scar lifted a shaky hand from the dragon and tried her hardest to focus through the panic. The beast immediately slowed down its pace, giving its riders a chance to recover from the crazy flight.

"Good… job," Byron congratulated her between pants.

"Thanks," Scar smiled back at him. Using her sorcery, she directed the watery beast up into the clouds. Once they had gotten used to the slight turbulence the sorceress and old man looked over the sides of the dragon to the earth below. Beneath them the empty, beautiful grasslands stretched out into the horizon.

"Hey look!" Scar excitedly motioned towards the ground towards a herd of mazelles galloping on the open plains. "They look like Genevieve!"

Byron let out a laugh. "Yes, indeed they do."

Scar commanded the beast to move even higher until even the clouds were underneath them. The way the wind rushed through her hair exhilarated her; she felt so free. "Woohoo!"she cheered, throwing her hands above her head without a care in the world. Very few times in her life has she been this happy.

"We had better head back now," Byron told her after a couple of hours of riding around in circles.

Scar nodded in response. "Which way do we go?" she asked.

"Um…" Byron thought for a moment, "I'm pretty sure we came from that way." He pointed in the direction towards where the sun would be setting soon.

"Gotcha!" The sorceress moved her hands gracefully to guide the watery dragon to Yengi Fortress. Luckily, the old man had chosen the correct direction they had traveled from originally, and it wasn't long before they had reached the fortress. Scar landed the beast in the square where she had woken up, causing Genevieve, who had been relaxing in the sun, to run and hide as the dragon came closer. The sorceress leapt off the dragon first to help Byron down from its back. As soon as he was on solid ground, Scar put up a hand to turn the dragon back into its beginning element, a puddle of water. The liquid was already evaporating in the late afternoon heat as Scar turned back to Byron.

"I think that's enough training with water today," Byron stated as he fixed his hair which had been badly ruffled by the wind.

"Haha. I agree," Scar said with a heartfelt smile.

Byron returned the grin. "Feeling better?"

"Actually, yes. The anger is all gone," the girl responded. The weight she had felt on her chest earlier had been completely lifted; only happy thoughts flowed through her mind. She sensed the same freedom she had experienced midflight from the anger, the moment she had whooped to the heavens.

"Good. Just remember to keep using your water magic to make sure your true element doesn't get out of control again. Fire, of all elements, is more prone to going wild," Byron lectured, pointing his finger in her direction as if to emphasize his point.

The sorceress blinked and slightly bowed her head in agreement.

"Now," Byron continued, "Let's get ready for the night. The sun is about to set. Follow me; I have a fire pit around the way where we can keep warm."

Scar ran to grab Genevieve, who had the bag full of the sorceress's belongings tied to her back, and led the mazelle to where the old man was walking towards. Scar was excited, excited that she wouldn't have to spend another cold night alone.

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**Me: *sigh* :(**

**Scar: What's up with you? All you've done is sit around the house all day pouting.**

**Me: I told you already. I lost my writing buddy. :(**

**Scar: Who? 0.0**

**Me: Scooter. :(**

**Scar: The black rodent? 0.0**

**Me: He's a poodle! :(**

**Scar: Oh right. He was a wierd little dude.**

**Me: He was old. So yeah. That's why I dropped out of Nano, but there will definitely be more story on the way. :)**

**Scar: Thank God. XP**

**Sorry for such the long pause! Unfortunately, it's been a VERY busy couple of months with the holidays and my college apps... But I got accepting to Miami Oxford! AWWWWW YEEEEAAAAAH! XD Anyways, thanks for staying faithful to me, you wonderful readers and stay tuned for the next chapter which should be in soon. **

**Reviews = Love ;)**


	4. Chapter 4: A Prophesy Revealed

**A/N**

**Me: Yay! Happy New Year! XD**

**Scar: Yay.**

**Me: Could you at least pretend to be excited? It's a whole new year for crying out loud! XD**

**Scar: What's the point? This year will be the same as the last. :/**

**Me: It's just the concept, so just smile or something. :P**

**Scar: Like this?**

**Me: Um... No. That's a scowl. :/**

**Scar: This?**

**Me: Whoa. How can you make your face do that? 0.0**

**Scar: I'll take that as a no. -.-"**

**DISHCLAIMAH!: I own the whole world! Mwahahahaha! XD ... Ok. Maybe just the one in this story. But I think it'd be freakin' awesome if one of you readers wrote a fanfiction on this fanfiction... Whoa... A fanfic in a fanfic... Fanfic-ception. 0.0**

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_C__hapter 4: A Prophesy Revealed_

The night following her training Scar sat on the a few feet from the fire pit as Byron roasted some rats he had managed to catch on a stick over the flames. She stared into the embers lost in thought, her mind traveling into an empty void. The only noises to be heard were the crickets and the occasional huff of the nearly-asleep Genevieve who was lying a few meters away in the darkness.

Finally Byron pulled the meat he'd been cooking away from the fire and turned towards Scar. "Dinner's ready!" he announced jovially and began to try to take the rats off the stick. He burned his fingers the first few times he tried to get them off, letting out a few sounds of pain as he did. With a wave of her hand, Scar sent a freezing breeze to cool the hot meat, and so the old man easily slid off a rat to offer it to her.

"Here you go," he said as she reached for it absentmindedly. She took a bite into the over-cooked meat, savoring its flavor before swallowing. Yet she still continued to stare into the flames as if she were in her own little world.

"So… You've been awfully quiet. What are you thinking about?" Byron asked her as he sat next to her to start devouring his own rat.

Scar moved her gaze from the fire to the ground. "Nothing," she stated emotionlessly. She was still obviously bothered by something.

"Come on," he pushed on through mouthfuls of meat, "What's eating at you?"

"Nothing," Scar responded a second time.

"Scar, what's troubling you?" Byron sounded genuinely concerned for her.

Scar stood up angrily, throwing her rat to the dirt. "Nothing! I told already! Nothing is wrong!" The fire pit flared with every word she spat at him. The two were silent as they stared at each other almost in a stand-off. They remained like this for what seemed like hours, the tension still building.

Scar broke the silent battle between them when she plopped back down with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, "It's just… I wasn't strong enough."

"Strong enough to do what?"

"To save my people from those hooded fiends." A single, frustrated tear fell down her cheek. "It's all my fault. I should've stayed and fought. I should've given my life to defend the villagers, to defend Martwen and Baba. It was my duty as the sorceress of Monataro, and I've failed."

"No, you haven't. You did what you could. There was no way you could have beaten them. They were far too powerful. You would've died in vain to have stayed, and that would have been exactly what they had wanted," he spoke softly, trying his best to be sympathetic.

"Who was it?" she asked, her voice full of a quiet rage, "Who was it that murdered my people?"

Byron sighed, and he tossed his mostly eaten rat aside. "They call themselves the Panther Organization."

"I heard them say that," the sorceress interrupted him, "The Panthers. They invited my teacher to be a part of them just before..." She paused, not wanting to finish her sentence, yet she continued anyways. "Before they killed her."

The old man nodded. "The Panthers are a secret society of sorcerers and sorceresses. Not much is known of them. Even the spirits are baffled by what their purpose is, yet they have told me a few things that they know in the stars. These Panthers only accept the strongest magic-wielders to their group, and they are supposedly led by one of the greatest sorcerer of all time. Master Feng."

"Back in the attack of my village there was an albino. He was the one who murdered my master. Is he this Feng you speak of?"

Byron shook his head, his expression growing sad. "No. Who you met was Elias. He's one of Feng's right-hand men. He's the head-warrior of the Shadows. The Shadows are the ones who do all of the organization's dirty work. They're the ones who ransacked Monataro. Elias is almost as power-hungry as Feng, but I believe he has some good in him."

"Why so positive? Have you met him or something?" Scar interjected, still very interested in what the old man is saying.

"I should know him. Elias is my son," Byron stated, his eyes holding a reminiscent sorrow.

"Your son?" the sorceress exclaimed, not believing what she had just heard.

Byron nodded again. "Yes. We used to live in Lumiar. Just the two of us. His mother died in bed with a fever when he was merely a baby. He had a lot of issues as a child, with him being an albino and all. The other schoolchildren made fun of him and bullied him whenever they could. I don't remember Elias having any friends. I tried to teach him that being different wasn't bad, but he didn't listen. He was far too stubborn. He ran away from home when he was fifteen. Didn't leave a note or anything. He just left."

By this point in the story, the old man was on the verge of tears. "He was all I had. Of course I crawled into a bottle for a few years before I received a sign from the spirits one night. That was the first time I was able to read the stars. The spirits told me I had to leave Lumiar, warning me that something terrible was coming. Luckily, I had enough sense and was adequately sober to travel to a neighboring village. I don't remember the name of it, but it definitely wasn't Monataro. Anyways, I came back the next day to retrieve my things, but when I got to where my home was supposed to be, the entire building had been burned to the ground. It was there I met Elias again. He had been waiting for me with the Shadows to return and finish me off. I tried so hard to plead him to come back to me, yet my efforts were of no use; he was far too devoted to Feng. I ended up barely escaping with my life, and so I ran away to where no one would find me. Eventually I discovered Yengi Fortress. It was the perfect place to spend the rest of my days in solitude." He smiled weakly as he finished speaking.

"Wow," Scar commented, "That's harsh."

Byron shrugged. "No more harsh than yours."

"How would you know?" the sorceress asked, trying her hardest not to sound defensive.

"I just have a feeling. Do you wish to share?" He gazed at her with his intense, blue eyes in hopes she would reveal something about herself. He truly adored hearing of people's pasts, especially since the last visitor who had stumbled upon his fortress years ago was a young traveler who was completely mute.

"Nah. Nothing interesting has happened to me besides the last few days," Scar blew off the question.

"Are you sure?" Byron asked.

Scar thought about it before deciding to talk. "Well, I never did get to know anything about my mother. She died in childbirth. I almost died then, too. But Baba had been the one delivering me and saved my life. She's the one who looked after me when my dad disappeared when I was about nine years old. He was taking a cart filled with wheat to sell in the big markets of Simbasa, yet he didn't come back. We sent out at least half a dozen search parties to bring him home, but they found nothing. They assumed that he had been killed by some sort of animal or a band of thugs. But it's ok. I don't remember too much of him, so I don't really think of him at all. It's like he never existed."

"So you're an orphan?" the old man questioned as she paused.

"I mean, I guess so, but not really. Baba was like my mom and dad put into one person. I think she did a better job raising me than my real parents ever could. After all, they couldn't teach me sorcery. When Baba found out from the spirits that I had the potential to be a sorceress, we began training right away," Scar said, a cheery expression on her face as she thought of her history.

"That certainly seems like a good life, though full of hardship," Byron stated.

Scar yawned. "Yeah. Well, I'm tired. I'm going to go hit the hay."

"Me too," the old man stretched out his arms, showing even more of his ribs as he arched his back. "Good night." He lied down on his back while Scar put out the fire with her magic. She then scooted a meter or so away from him to curl into a fetal position to prepare for slumber.

"Wait! What's that?" Byron interrupted her attempt at getting some sleep, his eyes scanning over the night sky.

"What?" Scar sat up and looked at him, befuddled.

"The stars! They're saying something!" He then mumbled a few unintelligible phrases to himself, his eyes growing larger and larger with every passing moment.

"What are they saying?" the sorceress asked excitedly.

"Shhh! Give me a minute!" They sat in silence for everlasting minutes as Byron read the patterns in the cosmic universe. Scar kept her gaze on the stars as if she too were trying to understand the readings, not that there was any way she could. Instead all she noticed was the way the little balls of light twinkle, the way they contrasted against the blackness of the universe. She remembered back to stargazing with Baba. The elderly woman had taught Scar a whole bunch of the constellations: Grogan the flautist, Mundowo the great tiger, Persanan the butterfly queen, and so many more the sorceress had forgotten most of them.

Finally, Byron let his vision fall down to the sorceress sitting eagerly in front of him. "Boy, do the spirits have a lot in store for you," he stated, staring at her with an astounded glint in his eyes.

Scar tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He looked back up to the skies like he was double checking to make sure he'd gotten his facts straight before turning towards her again. "The spirits tell me you are a part of the Great Prophecy."

"A prophecy?" The sorceress jumped at the unexpected answer.

Byron closed his eyes and nodded, his bluish hair glowing in the moonlight. "You are a part of the Great Prophecy. They've brought it up quite often, they have," he stated plainly while pointing to the stars.

"What is this Great Prophecy?" Scar questioned.

The old man sighed before continuing, "Long ago, far before my time, it was foreseen by the spirits that something big and bad and powerful would be coming to these lands of Sodamonia. Yet there was prophesied to be three heroes who would stop the evil and save the world. You know, the typical mystical stuff. Anyways, the spirits believe you are the one of the heroes who will fulfill this duty. Scar, it is your destiny to find the other two and defeat this Panther Organization."

"Panther Organization? You didn't say anything about this Great Prophecy having anything to do with the Panthers!" she exclaimed.

"Well," Byron looked at her embarrassedly, "The spirits kindly alerted me of this just now. They're full of surprises, you know."

Scar's voice lowered, her expression murderous. "I can take on the Panthers by myself. I don't need anyone else. And I'm sorry Byron, but Elias is going down, too. He will pay dearly for what he did to the people I cared for. I will make sure they all do." A frightened look came over Byron's face at her dark words.

"No no no!" he yelled at her. "You mustn't! Remember what they did to you back in Monataro? There's no way you'd win, not without help!"

Scar thought back to Baba's final words:

'_You will do great things, but never alone_.'

She took in a deep breath before relaxing her body, the wise words of her teacher running through her mind over and over. "Fine. I'll do what this stupid prophecy says. I'll do it the spirits' way."

"Good," Byron said with a relieved smile. Secretly, he had been waiting for this day to come for decades. The stars had warned him that one of the key players in the Great Prophecy would come to need his aid, and he had hoped the mute traveler would be the one. Unfortunately, the young man left only a few hours after he arrived at Yengi Fortress. Byron had discovered his body on the plains being eaten away by some plainswolves a few days later. Yet he had found Scar now. He had found one of the heroes. He was sure of it; the night sky had never lied to him before.

"So?" Scar's tone sounded awkward, as if the news he had given her made her feel like a fish out of water. "What do I do now?"

The elderly man shrugged. "There's nothing you can do until morning. Let's get some sleep until then."

Scar nodded, her eyelids already starting to droop. "Alright. Good night, Byron," she yawned while crawling back to where she'd been lying before Byron had read the prophecy in the stars.

The old man snuggled into the dirt. "Nighty night." With that, the duo took a restful nap beneath the twinkling, night sky, the spirits watching over them.

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Scar awakened the next morning with the sun blaring in her vision. Automatically, she put her hand up to fend off the warm rays from her face; it had been a long time since she'd slept in like that. Back in Monataro she would've already been busy at sunrise. When her eyes had recovered, Scar sat up to look around for Byron, her mouth making dry smacking noises to get the moist feeling back into it. The old man was nowhere to be seen, and Genevieve was gone as well. She slowly got to her feet to begin her search for them, her muscles aching from the sleeping on the stiff ground.

A whinny broke through the quiet. "Genevieve?" Scar, now completely alert after hearing the mazelle's yip, ran in the direction the sound had come from.

"Genevieve! Are you ok?" she yelled, rounding a corner. In the square she'd first met Byron, Genevieve was running around happily as Byron chased her in a game. As soon as the mazelle noticed her rider was up, she stopped her galloping, and the old man crashed into her rear end. Scar couldn't help but let out a giggle.

"Oh! Good morning!" Byron laughed while he stood back up, the mazelle sniffing him as if checking to see that he was alright.

"Finally awake, are we?" the old man teased her. She shrugged, a grin still glued to her face. Genevieve had never played with anyone but Scar before, so it gave the sorceress good reason to have trusted the elder.

"Yeah," the girl stretched out her arms and yawned before continuing, "So what should I do about that prophesy?"

A thoughtful expression came over Byron's face. "Well, if I were you I'd go get some supplies in Simbasa. I have a feeling it'll be a long quest. Besides, you might get a clue as to where the other two heroes are. How does that sound?"

"Sure. I don't have a better plan."

"Excellent!" Byron clapped his hands together with a grin. "Let's get you packed up then!"

He started walking off, and she began to follow when he stopped her. "You just wait here. I'll go get some important things any traveler would need."

"Okay," the sorceress agreed as he took off. As soon as he was out of sight, Scar felt Genevieve's nose nuzzle her shoulder, so she turned around to gently caress the mazelle's muzzle.

"Hey girl. How you doing?" she asked. The beast let out a sharp yip in return. After giving Genevieve's face a few more strokes, Scar made her way towards the bag that was tied around the mazelle's girth. She opened it hastily to make sure its contents were safe, letting out a sigh when she saw that everything was fine. She had managed to salvage her mother's necklace, Genevieve's bridle, her water-flask, her favorite book, and the skin of eternity water Baba had given her that fateful night.

Scar reached into the burlap bag and pulled out the lovely pendant. She hadn't taken the necklace into the sunlight before, yet it simply glowed in the rays. Scar had never seen anything so beautiful in all her life. Instinctively she pulled the jewelry around her throat and clipped it in the back to let it hang between her still-developing breasts. Once she'd admired the pendant for a few moments, she put her hand back into her bag to take out Genevieve's bridle. She hadn't had the time to put it on the mazelle back in the run from Monataro, so now she carefully placed it over Genevieve's head, gently pulling her fuzzy, long ears through the leather loops and securing the nose piece over her snout. The mazelle shifted its hooves excitedly since having the bridle on usually meant they'd be going for a ride.

"Calm down, you!" Scar exclaimed as a hoof almost stepped on her moccasin-covered feet. Genevieve let out a grunt when she realized they weren't leaving yet. At that moment the old man returned, his arms full of various goods as well as a large sack draped over his shoulders.

"Found everything you were looking for?" she questioned while he dropped everything to the ground, creating quite the clatter.

"Yep!" the old man chirped, "Now just give me a minute and it'll be all packed up!" Byron stuffed food, some of his old clothes, a bar of soap, and some other little articles into a thatch sack he had made himself.

"Um... Do you need help?" the sorceress asked midway through his efforts.

"No. Almost there... Aha! Finally! You should be ready to go," he announced while stepping away from his work. In front of him sat the most overstuffed bag Scar had ever seen.

"Impressive," she muttered while nodding her head approvingly.

Byron admired his work for a couple of seconds prior to remembering something and reaching into a pocket in his loincloth that Scar had failed to notice before. "I almost forgot! Here's some money," he said while dropping a small yet heavy draw-string bag into her hand, "It should be enough to get some decent supplies in Simbasa and maybe then some."

"Oh, Byron. You don't need to do this for me," Scar semi-gushed, her voice filled with emotion.

"It's my pleasure to help out someone as vital to this world as you." The old man smiled kindly. "Now come along. The gate out is this way." He gestured for her to follow him as he turned to walk in the direction of the tall tower they'd trained at yesterday. Scar grabbed at Genevieve's reigns to lead her to the where the old man was going. They traveled for endless minutes in absolute silence; nothing sounded but the rare caw of a hawk or the light howl of the wind. All Scar could see were stone ruins and hardy, fortress wall. There was no sign of an opening to the outside world anywhere. Finally, a huge, wooden door came into view as it was revealed from behind a structure that looked to have been a shop at one point but was now only half standing. The old man approached the door casually, as if he opened humongous doors every day, and yanked at the black, metal ring the size of a window back in Monataro to have the door slowly open with a screech. The comfort of seeing the plains again made the sorceress's heart warm as she led her mazelle out into the openness.

"Simbasa should be about a day's ride that way," the elderly man motioned straight out in front of them.

"Byron," Scar stopped and turned back towards him, a sheepish look on her face while she let go of Genevieve's reigns for a moment, "I just wanted to, you know… Well, thank you for rescuing me yesterday. And thanks for teaching me so much. I know it'll come in handy sometime or another."

"It was no problem," he said, his face wrinkling up into a grin.

A sad look came into her eyes. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

Byron shook his head. "No. This is your journey. Only you can make it. I belong here, my home." The old man then quickly pulled her in for an awkward, unexpected hug, and he beamed with pride as they broke away from the embrace. "It was an honor to meet you, Scar. Good luck on your journey! Be sure to visit every now and then! It gets awfully lonely here by myself!"

"Will do!" Scarletta laughed before jumping on Genevieve and giving a hearty "hyah!" Byron watched as the girl and her mazelle galloped away towards Simbasa.

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A few hours after the sorceress had left, Byron sat in front of the fortress gates, weaving together a thatch basket. The sound of hoof-beats echoed in the distance. The old man looked up from his handiwork to see who was approaching; three riders wearing nothing but black rode upon jacklers toward him. Jacklers were dodos of a sort, standing about seven feet tall with ruffled, black feathers. These jacklers that the hooded figures rode had obviously been badly taken care of, considering the bald patches that were too frequent for molting, the way their legs were terribly scarred from years of fighting in their holding pens, and the angry temperament they carried as they squawked and nipped at one another whilst running. The birds were making good speed, though, and it wasn't long before they had to be yanked to a stop in front of the ever-calm Byron.

"Can I help you?" the old man asked with a friendly smile.

One of the figures, a man, jumped off his jackler to come closer to the elderly man. "We're looking for a girl. She is about this tall, black hair, tan skin. Have you seen her?" the man in the black robes pressed in a commanding tone while thrusting a well-drawn picture of Scar into his face.

"Never heard of her." Byron continued his basket weaving.

"I don't believe you," the man sneered.

"What is there to disbelieve?"

The robed figure pointed to the mazelle tracks leading away from the fortress. "That."

Byron was barely able to conceal the nervousness of being caught in his lie. "Oh that? That's probably from some animal that walked through here days ago. How I love a visitor."

"Well, gramps, I'm not buying it. So talk!" the man rapidly pulled out a crooked-looking dagger and held it to Byron's nose, "Before I cut out your throat."

"Make me," Byron said and stuck out his tongue.

The hooded figure growled in anger. "Alright then. You're coming back with us. You are under arrest by orders of the Panther Organization. Tie him up!"

The old man didn't fight back as the other two figures in black got off their jacklers to knot his hands together with rope.

"Atta' boy, gramps. Nice and easy now," the man said while putting his knife away, showing that he was letting his guard down. Little did he know that Byron had been prepared for their arrival to Yangi Fortress. The old man walked a few steps with his captors before throwing a small, round object to the ground. Immediately a thick smoke erupted from the round object that completely surrounded Byron and the hooded figures, making it impossible to see. The people wearing black coughed and hacked in the smog. When most of the smoke had cleared, the old man was nowhere to be seen, and the rope that had bound him was lying limp on the dirt.

"He must have run back into the fortress! Catch him!" the leader of the robed figures yelled to his inferiors. One of the Panther members summoned a whip of stone into her hands, the other pulling out a rapier from under his black cloth. They then both ran into the fortress as fast as they could to find the old man.

"He couldn't have gotten far," the woman, a sorceress, stated sternly, her vision wandering over the old ruins.

The man investigated a pile of rubble carefully. "Yeah, but keep your eyes out." Suddenly, a coconut sized rock came from up high, hitting the man with the rapier in the head with a thud and knocking him unconscious.

Just then the man who'd threatened Byron with the knife joined the sorceress, running up to her with lightning speed to see what was taking his lower-ranking officers so long. "He's up there!" she exclaimed while pointing up to the tallest tower in the fortress where Scar and Byron had trained the day before.

The leader of the group pulled out a metal ball with a wick, throwing it to the sorceress. "Light him up. He isn't going to talk."

The woman in the black robe lit the wick with her fire magic and tossed it into the open door at the bottom of the tower. In seconds the ball had exploded, causing the fragile building to collapse. The blast could be heard from miles around. When the sounds of destruction stop, the sorceress stopped covering her eyes with her arm and looked at the pile of rocks that used to be a tower with a wicked grin.

Her superior gave a swift kick to one of the pieces of rubble, sending it flying high above the fortress's walls with his sorcerer-enhanced strength. "There's no way he could've survived that," he said almost proudly. "Let's get back to Master Elias to give him our report. The girl has been here for sure." The sorceress helped her fallen comrade, who was just awakening from the blow to the head from the stone, to his jackler. The three Panther members then got back upon their squawking steeds and headed off, leaving Byron and the remains of the tower in deathly silence.

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**Me: So, Scar, what are your New Year's resolutions? :3**

**Scar: Escape from your basement. :)**

**Me: Fat chance. I just installed an electrified fence that I got for Christmas. :P**

**Scar: I can dream! XP And why the hell would Santa give you an electric fence? 0.0**

**Me: I was on his extra-nice list this year. ;P**

**Scar: What? Did you sleep with the fat man in red? :P**

**Me: Perhaps... ;P**

**Scar: 0.0"**

**Me: I have my ways. XD**

**So another chapter of PoS (lolz. Looks like it stands for "Piece of Shit" XD) is done! I'm already working on chapter 5, and I pretty much have chapter 6 done. Anywhozzles, I hope you guys are enjoying where this story is going and continue to follow the adventures of Scar and I in future chapters. And remember kids, if a fat guy in a red suit asks if you want a ride home on his sleigh, just say no. XP**

**Scar: Thanks for the mental image. -.-"**

**Reviews = Love XD**


	5. We're Moving!

**Scar: Damn. You really screwed up. XP**

**Me: I did not! It was an honest mistake. :(**

**Scar: Anyways, wanna tell 'em what you did? XP**

**Me: Oh yeah... So I just realized that Fanfiction probably isn't the best place for this story because it's an orginal. XP**

**Scar: And? :P**

**Me: And so I found another website which is basically owned by Fanfiction or vice versa that's called FictionPress! XD**

**Scar: Such a newb. XP**

**Me: Yeah. I know. :3 So I'd like to thank you readers that have kept up with PoS, and if you wish to continue to read search "Protectors of Sodamonia" at fictionpress dot net. :D**

**Scar: Bye. :P**

**Me: See ya on the new site! XD Oh, and yes, blitzer99, there will be shapeshifters in the next chapter. ;)**


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